"I think it's going to be very difficult for me to play in April, not having played the whole year," Lemieux told the Post-Gazette. "I think most of the guys who are going to play in the world championships are guys who are playing in Europe and have been playing for a few months."

Normally I'd agree with Mario that I'd only want players who have actually been playing at a high level of hockey somewhere in Europe.

...but...This is SUPER MARIO!

We've seen Mario come back from long layoffs to absolutely dominate the competition many times before. Lemieux seems to need and thrive on having lots of rest for his broken body.

Really, Mario is just like the Sea King Helicopters that the Canadian Military uses. For every 1 hour of usage, they require 30 hours of maintenance.

Not that Canada hasn't won without Lemieux in the past, but it's still a bit of a bummer that he won't likely be available for his country.